Best online bonsai pot suppliers/makers?

Mr. Watanabe

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Hi All,

What are the best sources for good handmade ceramic bonsai pots online?

From what I've seen these suppliers/makers have a good selection of quality handmade and production pots:

Online stores:

Etsy Pot makers:
Bent Pine Pottery

Brightside Bonsai

BokenBonsaiPots

U.S. bonsai pot makers:
 

Sansokuu

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The Bonsai Empire link is a bit outdated unfortunately. Ron Lang has since retired, some time during the pandemic.

Some quality American potters in no particular order off the top of my head:
Mike Hennigan (@Mike Hennigan ) of Red Tail Pottery
April Grigsby
Pitoon @Pitoon
Eli of Waldo Street Pottery
(the above vend at U.S. Nationals, with occasional web sales)

Aki of Momiji-en (Instagram)
Ikiru Vessels (Instagram)
Kandied Clay

Myself (Sansokuu Arts, instagram)
Nao Tokutake @NaoTK Tokutake Bonsai online at instagram)

Bonsai Central is coming up in May, you’ll see a lot of pottery there! I recommend checking it out.
 

LuZiKui

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There are a few threads that go into some detail on this:


That's got most of the good people/places to buy from.

In addition to those mentioned in this thread, Denise Soultani does great work, her pots are all beautiful and the craftsmanship is top notch:

Denise Soultani https://www.etsy.com/shop/DMSPottery (She seems to add in batches)
 

BrightsideB

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Hi All,

What are the best sources for good handmade ceramic bonsai pots online?

From what I've seen these suppliers/makers have a good selection of quality handmade and production pots:

Online stores:

Etsy Pot makers:
Bent Pine Pottery

Brightside Bonsai

BokenBonsaiPots

U.S. bonsai pot makers:
I see you saw my pots on Etsy! Thanks for checking them out! Unfortunately my selection is very minimal at the moment. Usually I have 3x what is there currently. Like @pandacular stated about slab built pots. I understand the lack of them in the US. I am currently building up slab built pots (squares) for vendors and my shop. Taking longer than expected but I am adding a new batch of ovals regularly.
 

pandacular

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I have several of your pots, Robert, and can speak to their quality. Looking forward to getting my hands on one of your slab built rectangles or even a cool geometric.
 

vancehanna

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I would specifically like to see more US based pot makers create slab built pots. Rounds are nice sometimes, but it seems a huge majority of US made pots are wheel thrown rounds, when those can only be used in a small minority of cases.
Thanks Matt! Very true! A well made wheel thrown pot is always a joy! Yet a slab pot...whoa! it is very time consumptive. Now, if one wishes to create molds for such it is quite another line!
Molds will be wonderful yet yep, they're all the same baby. Heck I'm thinking of making some molds of mine!! hah! If nothing else, I'm going to hopefully create a few tools such as extruder dies etc. At this moment all my rectangles are totally hand slab constructed.
 

rockm

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While I am a firm supporter of American and European bonsai potters (most of my pots are from those sources), it's also worth mentioning that extremely well made old and extremely useful Japanese pots are readily available in the U.S. through several suppliers. They are in line with costs of many American and European potters as well, in some cases they're cheaper and better.

Matt Ouwinga at Kaede-En bonsai is one of the best importers of Japanese pots, both extreme high end and affordable well-made Japanese pots. He sources them from Japanese bonsai nurseries where he had personal experience working. I have more than a few pots from him and I'm lucky he's right up the bay from me. Worth a spin through his inventory--he sells most on Ebay.
 

Mr. Watanabe

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While I am a firm supporter of American and European bonsai potters (most of my pots are from those sources), it's also worth mentioning that extremely well made old and extremely useful Japanese pots are readily available in the U.S. through several suppliers. They are in line with costs of many American and European potters as well, in some cases they're cheaper and better.

Matt Ouwinga at Kaede-En bonsai is one of the best importers of Japanese pots, both extreme high end and affordable well-made Japanese pots. He sources them from Japanese bonsai nurseries where he had personal experience working. I have more than a few pots from him and I'm lucky he's right up the bay from me. Worth a spin through his inventory--he sells most on Ebay.
Wow, nice selection of Japanese pots!
 

Mr. Watanabe

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